House budget: $47.6B, no new taxes, no service cuts
Massachusetts House leaders unveiled a $47.6 billion budget for the coming fiscal year that avoids new taxes and service cuts but draws heavily on the state’s rainy day account.
The spending plan finds lawmakers still reluctant to “declare any sort of victory” over the pandemic and hesitant to cash in on billions in relief dollars headed to the state.
“We try to balance two priorities: We’re trying to take care of the residents’ immediate needs that are created by dealing with the pandemic and trying to chart the course of the commonwealth’s future,” House Speaker Ronald Mariano told reporters in a Wednesday briefing.
The plan is higher than Gov. Charlie Baker’s $45.6 billion fiscal 2022 budget and represents a nearly $1.2 billion boost in spending over the current year.
Lawmakers balance their budget with a $1.9 billion draw on the state’s dwindling emergency reserves — more than half of the $3.5 billion in the account.
Notably, Mariano said lawmakers “don’t touch the federal money” coming to the state from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Massachusetts is expected to receive $4.5 billion in unrestricted aid on top of more than $70 billion that’s flowed in through earlier relief bills. Plans for spending the new federal aid are expected in late spring.
House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said, “Building our base numbers off a one-time revenue source will only create a fiscal cliff.”
Revenue projections continue to blow past current benchmarks, but the speaker said the state is still close to $1 billion short of pre-pandemic revenue estimates.
“We have to see what the next few months bring before declaring any sort of victory on this fiscal year,” Michlewitz told reporters during a Wednesday briefing.
The House plan also proposes a boost in direct aid to schools in an effort to fulfill the Legislature’s commitment to financing a landmark 2019 education funding reform law that will inject an extra $1.5 billion into schools by 2026. The first year of funding was delayed amid the pandemic.
Another $40 million is earmarked to help level out school funding as enrollment fluctuates amid the pandemic.
House lawmakers will debate and pass their budget by the end of the month. Members face a Friday deadline to file any amendments.